by Kiki Swinson
“No, he didn’t budge until Dawn told him to.”
“That’s right, sis, shut his butt down!” Alexia said with excitement.
“I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard her say it,” my mother interjected, and then she looked at me.
“Proud of you, sis,” Alexia said to me and then she looked back at my dad. “What’s wrong with your knee, Dad?”
“He fell on the ground when he tried to hit Reese,” I said, thinking back to exactly how it happened.
“Dad, what’s gotten into you? You can’t go around hitting people,” Alexia said, like she was poking fun at him.
“I almost had ’im. If he hadn’t moved to the left so fast, I know I could’ve gotten him.”
“So, I take it Reese is gone now?” Alexia continued.
“After Dad fell down and hurt himself, I told Reese to leave,” I chimed in.
“He’s one lucky guy because I swear, if he would’ve caught one of these right and left hooks I got, I would’ve hurt him pretty bad,” my dad said proudly. And he was dead serious too. Too bad he’s a senior citizen now, because to hear my father tell it, if he was still in his prime he would’ve beat Reese’s ass.
The part where Reese called my father out on his infidelity issues was hitting below the belt. I mean, come on, my dad wasn’t on trial here. Reese was. So why throw my dad under a moving bus? But then again, when I looked back, the shit my dad was saying to Reese was out of pocket and disrespectful as well, so I can see why Reese came back at him like that. And now I think about it, I wonder if my mother was hurting right now. I saw her massaging my dad’s feet and listening to him and Alexia talking. She seemed like she was okay. But then again, my mother was really good at hiding things too. I just hoped that Reese hadn’t opened up a can of worms for my mother. If he did, then I’m gonna forever hate him for it because my mother didn’t deserve to hear that. She’s an innocent person in this situation. That wasn’t cool and I would let him know it the next time I talked to him.
My family talked about the incident with Reese for another five minutes. Alexia was loving every minute of it, but I wasn’t, so I said, “Can we leave this alone for right now? I swear, I am over it.”
“We’re just having a conversation, Dawn,” my mother pointed out.
“Yeah, we are. It’s not like we haven’t done this before,” my sister chimed in.
“But see, that’s the thing. You guys are always talking about Reese. We already know that he’s a loser and we also know that he doesn’t have my best interests in mind. So why keep talking about him?”
“You know what, guys? She’s right, let’s drop it,” my mother interjected.
“Wait a minute, are you taking up for him?” my dad hissed. He looked really irritated.
“No, I’m not. I’m just trying to move forward. But you guys are making it impossible because you’re always bringing up his name.”
“I detect an attitude coming on,” Alexia commented sarcastically.
“I don’t have an attitude. I’m just over this whole thing. And to tell you the truth, I’m so over it that I’m thinking about going home. I figure that it’ll be more peaceful over there than here.”
“Baby, you know you don’t need to go home. Reese said that there are bad people out there looking for him. And it will just kill me and your dad if something happened to you,” my mother said.
“No, Mommy! Let her go. She’s just trying to come up with an excuse so she can leave here and go see her husband,” Alexia chimed in.
“You obviously don’t know me, if you think I’ve gotta make up excuses so I can leave here. Are you out of your damn mind?”
“No, I’m far from it. But you, on the other hand, gotta be, after being married to that man you got.”
I paused for a second and then I said, “Yes, let’s talk about my man.”
“Come on, girls, let’s not do this. We’re family,” my dad interjected.
Alexia wasn’t backing down. “Nah, Daddy, let her talk. I can’t wait to hear what she gotta say.”
“Okay, since you want me to talk, let’s talk about the fact that you’ve always been salty about Reese and I being together because you wanted him yourself.”
“That’s a damn lie! I never wanted him. He wanted me,” Alexia spat.
“Now, that’s enough, girls. We will not let that asshole come between us. We’re a family.” My dad tried to stand on his feet but his knee was still hurting him.
“Well, tell me what happened in the nightclub a few years ago when you and he met. Tell Mommy and Daddy how you wanted to give him some ass that same night, but you had your thotty girlfriends with you.”
Alexia chuckled. “He told you that?” She smiled.
“Don’t worry, he told me a lot of things. But for the sake of our parents, I’m gonna keep those little secrets close to the heart.”
“Yeah, whatever!”
“Whatever is right!” I hissed, and then I stood up from the sofa and proceeded to leave the den.
“Baby, where are you going?” my mother wanted to know.
“I’m going in the guest room,” I told her.
“Okay, if you need anything, let me know.”
“I will, Mommy, thanks,” I said and exited the room.
Back in the guest room, all I could think about was how Reese and my dad had acted outside. I had thought I was getting away from the arguments when I came back in the house, but then I got bombarded with a lot of fucking questions concerning Reese. To add insult to injury, getting into an argument with my sister was enough to send me over the edge. All everyone in the den had to do was leave well enough alone. Why do we always have to talk about Reese? Let’s discuss something else, like what the weather’s going to be today, or talk about how good God is to us. It’s that simple. Hopefully one day they will get hip to it. If they don’t, then too damn bad!
45
REESE
The ride back to my grandmother’s house nearly killed me. My heart was so wounded after getting rejected by Dawn, it did some damage to me. My eyes teared up, but a tear wouldn’t fall down my cheeks, and I wondered why. I also wondered why Dawn allowed her father to dictate to her how she should live her life. I’m her fucking husband! Not him!
What will it take to get my life back the way it was before I started gambling and messing up our finances? And let’s just say that I find a way to do it, will Dawn give our marriage another chance?
After that meeting with Todd, I was more afraid and paranoid than I was when I found out that US Customs agents were going to investigate me and the boys. But now that I knew that the Asian millionaire Que Ming had a target on our backs, I knew that I had to be careful everywhere I went, and I couldn’t be bringing that heat to my grandmother’s house. It would kill me inside if one of them Asian motherfuckers put their hands on my grandmother. I would lose my mind really quick. So, as far as I could see, I was gonna have to look over my shoulder everywhere I went until I got out of town.
* * *
The drive back to my grandmother’s house took me longer than usual. I purposely drove out of the way so no one would be able to follow me. I even rode by my street to see if an unfamiliar car was parked out in front of it, but there wasn’t, so I kept moving along.
By the time I had made it back to my grandmother’s house, I was more certain than ever that it would be best that I leave town. But then when I thought about how Dawn shot down the idea because she said we didn’t have any money left, I realized that she was right. How could we leave this place and drive on fumes? Or be able to eat and find shelter? Things would be disastrous. I needed to figure a few things out before I made my first move.
“Reese, is that you?” my grandmother yelled from her bedroom after I opened the front door of her house.
“Yes, Grandma, it’s me,” I yelled back.
“Make sure you lock that front door,” she instructed me.
“Yes, ma’am, I’m doing it now. Ne
ed anything before I go in the bedroom?”
“No, baby, I’m fine. I just sat back down from using the bathroom and pouring myself a cup of hot tea.”
“Okay,” I said, and then I went in my bedroom and closed the door.
I tried lying down on the bed, but I kept getting back up every time I heard a car ride by. After being in the room for five minutes, I think I got up at least twenty times to look out the window.
While I lay back on the bed, my cell phone started ringing. When I picked it up and looked at the caller ID I thought I was seeing things. I answered, “Dawn, baby, is this you?”
“Yes, Reese, it is,” she whispered.
“Oh, baby, I swear you have just made me the happiest man on earth right now.” I couldn’t believe how a phone call could make me this happy.
“Is it true?” she said.
“Is what true?”
“Are our lives in danger?” she continued, her voice still low, like she wanted to prevent anyone from hearing her talk.
“Yes, we are in danger, Dawn. That’s why I came by your parents’ house to get you. It would kill me if something were to ever happen to you.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I wanna pack up some of our things and leave this place for a while. At least until the dust settles. But I can’t do it without you.”
“But what if you’re wrong? What if that Asian man doesn’t want to kill us? We’d be leaving town for nothing.”
“Baby, listen to me and listen good. Edward told Todd that as soon as we accepted the five-thousand-dollar advance for the job and didn’t complete it, Que Ming put targets on our backs. Do you know how much money that man lost on this last job when those six people were found dead and the rest of them got detained? Human trafficking is a multimillion-dollar business. So, do you think that man is going to let us walk around here like we didn’t cost him a lot of money? Hell, nah! So, that’s why we gotta get out of here. I don’t want us ending up like Edward and Brian.”
“Do you love me?” she asked.
“You fucking right I love you. You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me, Dawn, that’s why I refuse to leave town without you. I need you by my side, baby.”
“What will we do for money?”
“I talked to my grandmother when got back here and she said she’ll lend the money to me,” I lied. I felt like I had to say whatever I could to make our escape look easy.
“Come on, Reese, you know that whatever your grandmother gives you isn’t going to be enough.”
“Yes, it will,” I insisted.
“Okay, so what do you want me to do now?”
“Will you be willing to meet back at our house in two hours? That way we can get a few more things to take with us.”
“You promise you’ll be there in two hours? You know I don’t wanna be at that house by myself.”
“Don’t worry, baby. I will be there,” I assured her.
It felt good when Dawn picked up her cell phone and called me. And to know that she finally agreed to leave town with me was like icing on the cake. I swear, she made me so happy. Now all I had to do was get enough money so we could get by as we made our way to safety.
My grandmother always went to bed early, so I figured I was going to grab one of her credit cards from her wallet and write myself a check for at least a couple of grand. I know this amount would definitely help Dawn and me live comfortably until all of this blew over.
Instead of waiting in my bedroom for my grandmother to go to sleep, I decided to go into her room and watch her fall asleep while I pretended to watch television with her. She seemed really happy when I told her I was gonna chill with her for a little while.
“You’re gonna really sit in here and watch TV with me?” she asked. By this time she was lying in her bed, so I took a seat in her comfortable lounge chair.
“Yes, I am, Grandma. But what are you watching?”
“I’m watching the reruns of my favorite show, Desperate Housewives.”
“I think I’ve heard of this show before.”
“You should’ve, it’s a very popular show.”
“Is this what you do all day long, Grandma?”
“Do what, baby?”
“Sit in the house and watch TV all day?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Do you ever wish that you had a husband? I mean, I know it gets lonely sometimes.”
“Well, of course, I wish sometimes I had a husband here with me. And yes, I do get lonely sometimes. But when you have a relationship with God, He will fill up those voids in your life.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“Yes, it is. But talk to God. He will make a way out of no way.”
“If you say so, Grandma,” I said, and then I turned my attention to her favorite show.
As soon as the episode ended, my grandmother warned me that she was ready to go to sleep, so she wouldn’t be good company for the rest of the night.
“Do you mind if I sit in here to watch another episode?” I asked.
“Sure, honey. The television is all yours,” she said, and then she turned over on her side and closed her eyes.
I waited for at least thirty minutes before I put my plan into motion. I had to make sure my grandmother was fully asleep. So when I heard her snoring a little I knew it was time to go in for the kill.
Growing up under her roof, I noticed that she was a creature of habit. She drank the same coffee. She ate her eggs a certain way. She still had the same dishes and cookware that she’d had for over fifteen years now. As far as where she kept her money, she has always hidden it in her chest in the back of her closet. “Grandma, can you hear me?” I whispered. And when she didn’t answer, I knew now was the time to grab what I could get and get out of there.
Okay, now the whole time I was tiptoeing in her bedroom, I couldn’t help looking back at her, just to make sure she wasn’t looking at me. I swear, it would be so embarrassing if she caught me going into her things. I wouldn’t know what to say if she woke up and asked me what I was doing. I knew I would freeze right there.
The room was dark, so I had to use the light coming from the TV and the light from my cell phone. Once I got into the closet, I turned on the flashlight from my cell phone. “Come on, now, please let me find enough cash so I can get me and my wife out of town,” I thought to myself after my eyes landed on the black trunk.
Very quietly, I got down on my knees, put the end of the cell phone into my mouth for the light, and then I very carefully opened the chest. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The entire chest was fucking empty of anything that looked like currency. The only thing she had in there that was of value was an antique Bible and some old baby pictures of my mother. That’s it. “Fuck!” I hissed, as I made my way back out of the closet. And as soon as I stood back up, I scanned the bedroom for her purse. It took me a couple of seconds, but I found it, sitting next to her lamp on the nightstand next to her bed. I tiptoed over, grabbed her purse, and then I exited her bedroom. I went straight to the kitchen where there was plenty of light and dumped all the contents onto the countertop. The first thing that fell out was her wallet, which was the most important thing. The second thing that fell out was her checkbook. I can’t lie, I saw dollar signs instantly. First, I needed to find out how much cash I could take without her noticing that it was gone. But once again, I struck out because she only had a ten-dollar bill in the whole entire wallet. “Where the hell is your money, Grandma? You used to have money lying around all the time,” I said softly.
Next up was the checkbook. I went directly to the last page of the booklet and searched her ledger. My grandmother was old-school, so she didn’t go online to keep an account of the amount of money she had. When I looked at the bottom row, I saw that she had $21,784.19. My heart damn near jumped out of my chest. Without further hesitation, I went to the last two checks in her checkbook and wrote myself two checks. The first one was for $3,500 and the second
one was for $4,500. I figured writing two checks for those amounts would be enough money for my getaway, and they wouldn’t send out alerts to the bank since they were under $5,000 each.
After I put the amount on the line and in the box in the right corner, I wrote my name and then I put the words renovation work on the memo line. Writing the checks in this manner was genius on my part. But some people called it forgery. “You and Dawn are going to be good now,” I whispered to myself, smiling from ear to ear.
I put my grandmother’s checkbook back into her purse. But when I picked it up to take it back to her bedroom, I remembered that I hadn’t taken one of her credit cards as a safety net, so I pulled her wallet back out and held the billfold open so I could decide which credit card to take. She had three of them in her purse. But the one that I knew she rarely used was the Capital One card, so that’s the one I took. I wasn’t sure what the credit limit was, but at that point it didn’t matter. I needed to get out of town ASAP. And that’s what I was going to do.
Thankfully she was still asleep when I returned her purse to her nightstand. And while I was exiting her bedroom, I powered off the TV.
Happy as hell because I got some money for me and my lady, I rushed back in my bedroom and packed my clothes. I was ready to leave this godforsaken town. With most of the guys I worked with at NIT dead, I felt now was my time to go. And who knows, maybe things would calm down and I could return. If not, then so be it.
46
DAWN
Instead of waiting around for two hours, I left my parents’ house immediately after I got off the phone with Reese. I got some flak from my mother and father when I initially tried to leave, but I told them that I was leaving so I could clear my head of all the stuff that was going on. My mother tried to block the front door, but I pushed her out of the way. “Knock her down on the floor the next time, will you!” my sister said.
“Dawn, you can’t seriously be trying to go out this time of the night,” my father chimed in.
“Why don’t you guys just leave me alone? I am a grown woman. If I want to leave your house, I have the right to do so,” I spat.